Marcoux hits form ahead of Panorama 2015
05.02.2015It was Groundhog Day in St Moritz as Marcoux, Bugaev, Bochet, Umstead and Schaffelhuber all secured slalom World Cup Finals wins.
Mac Marcoux and his guide Robin Femy celebrate their victory at the IPCAS World Cup Finals in St Moritz, Switzerland.
© • Marcus Hartmann
Mac Marcoux and his guide Robin Femy won one giant slalom and one slalom race at the 2015 IPC Alpine Skiing World Cup Finals in St. Moritz, Switzerland.
© • Marcus Hartmann
Marie Bochet during the giant slalom at the IPCAS World Cup Finals in St Moritz, Switzerland.
© • Marcus Hartmann
Canada's Mac Marcoux secured his third win out of four races on the final day of slalom races at the IPC Alpine Skiing World Cup Finals in St Moritz, Switzerland, on Thursday (5 February) to show he is in great form heading into the World Championships in Canada later this month.
In the last World Cup race before Panorama 2015, Marcoux and his guide Robin Femy (1:26.86) topped the podium in the men's visually impaired. It was their third win in as many days after the pair won Tuesday's giant slalom and Wednesday's slalom events.
Russia's Ivan Frantsev, guided by German Agranovski, (1:33.77) was a distant second, whilst Austria's Christian Hesch, guided by S Pajantschitsch, (1:41.92) was third.
For spectators watching Thursday's action in sub-zero and often foggy conditions, they could have mistaken it for Groundhog Day again which was celebrated on Monday (2 February) as five skiers, including Marcoux, picked up their second slalom wins in successive days.
France's Marie Bochet (1:37.72) was amongst them and in winning the women's standing secured a hat-trick of wins in St Moritz. Germany's Andrew Rothfuss (1:43.11), who won Monday's giant slalom, was second and third was Slovakia's Petra Smarzova (1:46.96)
The men's equivalent was again won by Russia's Alexy Bugaev (1:26.45) who finished ahead of his teammate Alexander Alyabyev (1:30.62) and completes his World Cup season unbeaten in slalom. On home snow, Switzerland's Robin Cuche (1:31.60) took third.
The podium for the women's sitting featured the same three skiers as Wednesday, with Germany's five-time Paralympic champion Anna Schaffelhuber (1:42.76) again taking top spot. Austria's Claudia Loesch (1:43.34) took second swapping places with Germany's Anna-Lena Forster (1:57.60) from Wednesday.
Despite two runs in the women's visually impaired, the USA's Danelle Umstead, guided by husband Rob, (1:58.62) and Great Britain's Millie Knight, guided Jen Kehoe, could not be separated with the rivals both clocking the same time. Knight was fastest in the first run, but Umstead had the better of the second, and both shared the top podium position.
Germany's Georg Kreiter (1:34.36), who won Monday's giant slalom, finished off his week with victory in the men's sitting. Consistency was the key for the 29-year-old who finished second and third fastest in his two runs to top the podium.
After finishing a miserable ninth after his first run, France's Frederic Francois (1:35.07) claimed an impressive second place on the podium with a blistering second run. Takeshi Suzuki (1:35.19) was the total opposite to Francois; fastest with his first run, the Japanese skier settled for third after only placing seventh in his second run.
Full results are available at the IPC Alpine Skiing website.
Media accreditation for Panorama 2015, which will feature around 130 of the world's best skiers from 30 countries competing between 1-10 March, is also available via the official event website of Panorama 2015.
